The Walking Dead: Jessie and Carol

Jessie and Carol are 2 characters on The Walking Dead that are remarkably similar when you take a closer look. I think Jessie’s transformation will happen a little more quickly and be slightly less dramatic, but I am starting to really like Jessie!

Jessie and Carol were both abused wives. That’s the most obvious connection between the two women. Carol’s acclimation to the apocalypse was much more gradual than Jessie’s. Carol saw more of the outside and the walkers than Jessie, but Carol had a group to protect her in the beginning.

Carol. The Walking Dead – AMC /

Carol lost Sophia and still was not yet hardened by the apocalypse. She didn’t want any part of deciding what to do about Randall. It wasn’t until the prison that she really found herself. When she found Lizzie and Mika and found her walker killing skills and the respect of the group. It took a while after she liberated herself from her husband by killing and slashing her husband’s body after he’d been bitten to really fight for herself.

This is one criticism I have of Carol that I’ve been afraid to write about because people so love her. And I do as well. She is very impatient with everyone else’s need for time to adjust. She knows she took time and it cost her. But she doesn’t give others any empathy. She doesn’t need to give them sympathy, but some tiny piece of empathy that lets them know why she pushes them so hard.

Jessie has had a crash course in the apocalypse, instead of gradual life lessons. She was sheltered for so long and then, boom. Walkers, wolves, and walls coming down everywhere, literally and figuratively.

Like Carol, as an abused woman, she looked for approval and friendliness outside of her own home. Carol did laundry and showed kindness to the group. Jessie offered Rick and Carl haircuts and tried to enjoy the social events of the town and her own hobbies.

Jessie. The Walking Dead – AMC /

A walker didn’t get Jessie’s husband. Her husband was shot in the middle of the town meeting. Jessie got her anger out and liberated herself from Pete with her kill of the Wolf in her home, symbolically killing the big bad wolf, Pete and exorcising him from their lives. The same way Carol did with Ed at the camp.

Jessie, like Carol, is taking responsibility for herself and her own survival. She’s not going to rely on being protected by others. Jessie let Rick know he can’t come in and tell Ron what to do. She’s going to get trained by Rosita. And she’s going to train her children. She appreciates Rick and heard him, but she’s not going to rely on him.

Jessie and Carol have Sam in common. They both love him. Carol gives him the tough love and strength and stability and possibly an honesty that he needed. In an abusive home, kids are used to dealing with secrets and lies. Carol gives him secrets and truth.

Jessie and Carol have Rick in common. Rick is friends with both of them and Rick does things that both of them don’t like. Carol is even deferring to Rick in her invisibility because she knows he’s the man and the leader that Alexandria was looking for to save them. She’s getting her way through Rick, She’s helping everyone survive through Rick.

Jessie, Rick, and Sam, The Walking Dead – AMC /

Jessie helped herself survive with Rick’s help. Carol sees herself in Jessie. She allowed Rick’s help to rescue Jessie, symbolically rescuing herself and Sophia by rescuing Jessie and Sam. Carol and Jessie are linked through Rick and Sam even if they never interact with each other.

We’ll see how Jessie develops in season 6 and if Jessie and Carol actually do interact in any way. Carol is the leader of the invisible underground railroad of Alexandria to empower the women. Jessie and now even Olivia! Maybe Dr. Denise will be next?

Next: Top 15 Reader-Chosen Dramatic Moments from Season 5

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